Is North Korea’s Offer to Stop Nuclear Tests Real?

This is clearly an attempt by the North Koreans to try and create a wedge in the US-ROK alliance by ending the combined military exercises.  Maybe they see a chance with an exiting US President to get a deal like this done which leaves them with a nuclear deterrent and a weakened US-ROK alliance.  I would be very surprised if such a deal was ever agreed to. Even if the Kim regime thinks a deal cannot be done their offer is also a way to justify their nuclear test program to an international audience:

-The foreign minister of North Korea says in an interview with The Associated Press that his country is ready to halt its nuclear tests if the United States suspends its annual military exercises with South Korea.

He also defended the country’s right to maintain a nuclear deterrent and warned that North Korea won’t be cowed by international sanctions.

Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong, in his first interview with a Western news organization, held firm Saturday to Pyongyang’s longstanding position that the U.S. drove his country to develop nuclear weapons as a deterrent. At the same time, he suggested that suspending the military exercises could open the door to reduced tensions.

“If we continue on this path of confrontation, this will lead to very catastrophic results, not only for the two countries but for the whole entire world as well,” he said. “It is really crucial for the United States government to withdraw its hostile policy against the DPRK and as an expression of this stop the military exercises, war exercises, in the Korean Peninsula. Then we will respond likewise.”

Ri, who spoke calmly and in measured words, a contrast to the often bombastic verbiage used by the North’s media, claimed the North’s proposal was “very logical.”

“Stop the nuclear war exercises in the Korean Peninsula, then we should also cease our nuclear tests,” he said, during the interview, conducted in the country’s diplomatic mission to the United Nations. He spoke beneath portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jung Il, North Korea’s two previous leaders.  [CBS News]

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